The company brings an official Android 4.2 keyboard to Android 4.0 and up.

We've written before about how Google is working behind-the-scenes to break different Android components out from the core of the operating system. This allows the company to update the OS without needing to wait for its partners to do so. Today, Google continued this adventure by releasing the stock Android software keyboard on Google Play, giving users of devices from Samsung, HTC, LG, and others an easy way to stop using their respective OEM-supplied keyboards. Google's Keyboard is only available in English for now, but other languages will reportedly be added soon.

Google's keyboard offers both gesture-based typing and typing suggestions and was last updated as part of Android 4.2. Now it will be available for all Android phones and tablets running version 4.0 and above. Downloading and launching the Google Keyboard app will walk you through turning on the keyboard and setting it as your default, after which your Android phone will have the same typing experience available on Nexus devices. Switching back to the keyboard that came with your phone (or any other alternative keyboards you may have downloaded) can be done from the device's Settings page.

In an attempt to mollify other third-parties that might be threatened by Google offering its own keyboard in its app store, Google threw them a bone in the announcement post:

Android is an open platform, so you can customize your device to your liking. Choosing your own keyboard is just one example of what’s possible—and there are a lot of great keyboards to choose from on Google Play. (Some of our other favorites are SwiftKey and TouchPal—check them out here: http://goo.gl/Hgj9k)

There are several other "Jelly Bean keyboard" apps available from third parties on Google Play that aim to offer the stock typing experience, but many cost money and all of them require you to allow those third parties access to your input. Most of these offerings explicitly state that they aren't actually collecting data. At least with Google's free first-party option, you'll be sending all of your data to a company that's already gathering it from your Android device anyway.

Yeees! Finally I can get back core Android functionality on my Samsung-crippled phone. It has pissed me off to no end that Samsung tinkers with things they don't fully understand and in the process ruins them.

One of the most critical features of newer versions of Android is that when you use the built-in keyboard to voice dictate, you are presented with underlined words with drop-downs for alternate word choices or delete. This feature is CRITICAL for allowing the voice recognition to LEARN, because otherwise you have no way to correct it and tell it when it is wrong or right. Of course, Samsung is clueless, so their keyboard doesn't support that, and damages voice recognition accuracy as a result.

I think it's pretty obvious by now that Google is fighting the fragmentation problem by simply moving absolutely everything it can onto the Play store so only the absolute bare OS minimum remains to be updated the traditional way. This way, even if your manufacturer has abandoned your device, your "Google experience" continues to advance.

I think it's pretty obvious by now that Google is fighting the fragmentation problem by simply moving absolutely everything it can onto the Play store so only the absolute bare OS minimum remains to be updated the traditional way.

They've actually been doing this for a while. They added gmail to the market ages ago. Than calender. I think at one point Maps, Search and Music weren't on the market either. I guess the lockscreen will probably be next.

No idea why it took them so long though. Actually, I have no idea why they didn't do this from the beginning. Why any pure application level software wouldn't be available from the market for ease of updating (or removing if a user doesn't want it) is beyond me.

I think it's pretty obvious by now that Google is fighting the fragmentation problem by simply moving absolutely everything it can onto the Play store so only the absolute bare OS minimum remains to be updated the traditional way. This way, even if your manufacturer has abandoned your device, your "Google experience" continues to advance.

I think it's pretty obvious by now that Google is fighting the fragmentation problem by simply moving absolutely everything it can onto the Play store so only the absolute bare OS minimum remains to be updated the traditional way. This way, even if your manufacturer has abandoned your device, your "Google experience" continues to advance.

Everything except security.

Actually, Chrome and the market itself are now updated through the Play mechanism too. Doesn't help with vulnerabilities in things like the linux kernel, device drivers,or Dalvik, but those are probably much less of a target since they require the user to download and run software as opposed to just connect to a given website or server.

Updating Dalvik through the market would be ... interesting. But maybe not so safe since that would imply removing out of the ROM and putting it in user accessible storage.

What I really want is Microsoft Transcriber (their handwriting recognition tool for Pocket PC). Naturally I'll never see that on Android, but what amazes me is that it's not available for Windows Phone or Windows 8. I'd consider a Windows Phone if it had Transcriber.

I think it's pretty obvious by now that Google is fighting the fragmentation problem by simply moving absolutely everything it can onto the Play store so only the absolute bare OS minimum remains to be updated the traditional way.

They've actually been doing this for a while. They added gmail to the market ages ago. Than calender. I think at one point Maps, Search and Music weren't on the market either. I guess the lockscreen will probably be next.

No idea why it took them so long though. Actually, I have no idea why they didn't do this from the beginning. Why any pure application level software wouldn't be available from the market for ease of updating (or removing if a user doesn't want it) is beyond me.

Lock-in.

I don't think that makes much sense. Theres no actual lock in one way or the other here, which is why its so strange.

and why every time I connect to Wi-Fi it insists on "updating" Google+, which I never use and wish I could un-install.

I think you actually can uninstall google+ if you're running a phone that doesn't bake it into the ROM. However, you probably would not want to do that since it provides services that some of the stock Android apps depend on. Without it you'd probably have to get a new gallery app for instance.

If you just want to not use G+ but still want to have things work that depend on it, you can just disable notifications and set it to autoupdate so that it won't prompt you.

Huh? The stock email app works with non-Gmail just fine. It's a separate app from the dedicated Gmail app.

Quote:

and why every time I connect to Wi-Fi it insists on "updating" Google+, which I never use and wish I could un-install.

I never use Google+ either, but that doesn't happen on my end (Nexus 7). Odd. It only notifies me when there's an app update, and only once. I don't even install the updates. (One update started using battery life, so I downgraded back to the out-of-box version.)

seeing about it here, i downloaded it (my asus is already updated to 4.2, but not the keyboard) to take a look. i find the letters much larger taking more sceen space. and no arrow keys. i didn't play with it for long before deciding to go back to swiftkey free; which is more versatile.

Yeah, I feel the same way. But I remember there was an app around XDA that let you install apps from any country. Don't remember the name and I don't know if its compatible with 4.0. But it might help you.

Not avaiable in my country? HK? Why is a keyboard being withheld from overseas markets? I can go down the road and buy a Nexus device that has it installed, so I don't really see what the issue is here.

Yeah, right. Not in my country. What the hell. What's so special about a damn keyboard app that you can't offer it in other countries. Or just some idiot flipped the wrong flag somewhere. Anyway, why write it being available since clearly it isn't. Say that it's available in the U.S.

"No!" here, too. It seems a little odd that even though part of the move is to improve stability/security by rolling out updates, they're only covering versions that most of the Android userbase doesn't run. I have a very hard time believing it's a true non-option, given what people working on CyanogenMod in their spare time manage to pull off.

I'm hoping they also release contacts, dialer and messaging too - so I can eliminate even more of the "explosion in a Korean crayon factory" UI from this Galaxy S3*.

Having said that, messaging makes a lot of sense, if you assume they are going to borrow the idea from iMessage where you just type a text message and the system works out what the best method is to send it.

"No!" here, too. It seems a little odd that even though part of the move is to improve stability/security by rolling out updates, they're only covering versions that most of the Android userbase doesn't run.

59% of people visiting the Google Play store are running 4.0+. So no, they are covering versions that most of the Android userbase are using.

This is great. Of course it helps update the user experience independent of unwilling telcos and lazy device makers.

But the largest gain may be for user experience at the bottom of the device pyramid. Consider the cheap and mid-range Chinese phones being sold in a lot of Asian markets under various Chinese and local brand names. These are the ones winning wallet share away from the likes of 'smart-ish' feature phones from Nokia, Samsung and co.

The hardware is increasingly up to speed for a good enough user experience: with decent dual core and quad core A7/A9 chips, a GB of RAM, and quite usable IPS screens with good battery sizes. Unlocked, no-contract/no-subsidy prices of $100-200. Yes, some areas do lag. wifi, gps, and 3G performance tends to suffer at the bottom of the price range. Sometimes, power optimization is poor. Still, several good entry level and mid range choices.

The software was often lacking compared to the latest and greatest from Google- lot of new launches on ICS, some even using Gingerbread. Google's new approach brings the latest software experience to a lot of these devices, making them absolutely great value for the money.

Potential for local brands to offer good customer service, build quality, and some feature differentiation based on local preferences. And, we get cheap, good quality phones that do well in common every day usage scenarios for most of the people.

I think it's pretty obvious by now that Google is fighting the fragmentation problem by simply moving absolutely everything it can onto the Play store so only the absolute bare OS minimum remains to be updated the traditional way. This way, even if your manufacturer has abandoned your device, your "Google experience" continues to advance.

It's also more convenient, you can get more frequent updates, aren't locked out of the device as when updating the OS.Eventually people will come to see OS updates as the primitive and undesirable process they are.

"No!" here, too. It seems a little odd that even though part of the move is to improve stability/security by rolling out updates, they're only covering versions that most of the Android userbase doesn't run.

59% of people visiting the Google Play store are running 4.0+. So no, they are covering versions that most of the Android userbase are using.

I'd guess that the majority of the Android userbase doesn't use the Play store. I'd even go further and say they don't even sign in to them with Google accounts.